BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Wed, June 16: Join the celebration of our Bronze Bike-Friendly Status despite Mayor

i like the forward thinking language from the mayor's office. it's our job to make them stick to it

forward as in "let's not just pat our selves on the back and say that the job is done"

Coolness! Just 3 blocks away for me! I'll be there!

Just sent an email to quizbot, cburch and two others who bike to our office that we should go together. At the very least I will be there.

Murphy, for all his faults, was forward thinking. Urban hiking, biking, walking trails? Hot Metal Bridge? Brownfield remediation? Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy?

Our current Mayor has plenty of initiatives to take credit for that Murphy started - for better or for worse... Always have to leave that hindsight 20/20 caveat.

murphy def deserves credit, no doubt. he also straight up said to us that he doesn't like bikes on the roads, a pretty clear difference from Luke's approach of publicly and consistently supporting bikes on the road.

and i'm not commenting on o'connor

Food provided? I am SOOO there!

Possible bike ride after if there is enough people attending? Downtown will be a bit chaotic as it always is, but if i can leave work from Noon on, then i'm all for it!

Cars and bikes share the road and must coexist. We will not tolerate violence or rage against cyclists or pedestrians.

That was SF Mayor Gavin Newsom's statement after a rager took out 4 cyclists on June 2nd. Moving forward, it would be great to see Luke stand behind something similar. Go for the Gold!

yeah im in.

i will try to make it if i can get out of work for a lunch. doubtful though

I'll be there, I'm down for a ride afterwards as well.

I'm almost hesitant to post this, but if I don't at least ask, I'll kick myself. I don't want to detract from the occasion, this is a notable achievement, but would it be inappropriate to wear a subtle and respectful black armband to the thing to remember those who haven't made it here with us? And the work that is left to be done? No commotion, just a reminder.

Scott and Erok, this is kind of your day, I will totally respect your thoughts on this.

I sure would like to hear an elected official committing to quintuple the number of bicycle parking facilities (i.e., racks) in the various city business districts, within a year or two.

I'm there.

How long is the ceremony? I can't take much time in the middle of the day, particularly factoring in travel time to/from, but I'd like to show support.

@JZ: I don't know for sure how long it will be, but I'd guess under half an hour. Probably closer to fifteen minutes.

I'll be there unless the weather fails to cooperate - anyone else riding in from Oakland/Shadyside?

I'd say it'll be about a half hour, like ian said. apparently, they will be ceremoniously replacing the crappy bike rack in the portico with a good one too.

also @edmonds. i'd say roll with it if you're feeling it. you don't seem to be going with hijacking the event in mind, and i appreciate that. i think that it's important to recognize that this crap still happens.

i'd say if you end up talking to the media, try to have your "soundbite" ready beforehand - and make sure to stick to it. you seem reasoned enough to come up with something articulate

I'll be there. I am just finishing up a rough guide to bicycle parking downtown. Based on a few field surveys completed last week only about 55 percent of all public rack space downtown is being utilized. While many racks are at 100 percent occupancy, or greater, many racks had no bicycles at all. I'll be sure to have our rough guide available at the event tomorrow. I am putting it together to demonstrate the need for more, better and safer parking downtown.

erok, cool. I do not intend at all to seek any media, but if anyone asks, I'll say it's a wonderful occasion of recognition for the city, but I want to remember Donald Parker, Melissa Mazur, Joseph Geary, Ruihui Lin, and others who can't be there. I just don't want anyone to forget. Lots of work to be done.

If anyone wants to ride from Oakland, I'm meeting ieverhart at 11:35 in front of the church on 5th and Craig. We're planning to take 5th.

Leaving from the strip tentatively around 11:30 from 29th and Liberty.

@salty--unless the weather is bad (read: rain okay, storming not ok), i'll meet at the church too.

dammit, i have been scheduled for a meeting from 11:30-12:30. hopefully it gets moved, if not i guess i will have to miss this too...

salty, ieverhart, kayla:

Depending on how work is going, I might join you guys.

I'll probably join. I get 45 minutes for lunch so I hope I can nosh too.

Where exactly is this? Is it outside?

in the city/county portico, so it's outside, but covered

@kayla, @dwillen - cool, at the moment I'm still planning to go but if it's pouring I may wuss out. I'll try to get to the church at 11:30, I'm wearing a blue bike-pgh t-shirt (and maybe a yellow rain jacket)

i'm going, rain or shine!

I'll be there too. I lost my bike lock key, so hopefully I won't have to lock it somewhere.

I'll be there.

This is so close to me I'm just walking.... don't hate me 'cause of it!

ps: no rain clouds in sight!

Ha ha, yeah, I bused today. Don't hate.

I was interviewed by Vince Sims right after the event about the bronze status and the recent violence. If it airs I hope I don't sound like an idiot.

Mmm. Apples and Clif bars.

Big props to Scott for mentioning the East End violence during his speech, on camera. Seriously, THANK YOU.

Anyone have any links to news videos about this? My boss just texted me 'cause she saw some of us standing behind Scott while he was being interviewed by Channel 4... can't find any videos yet, though.

KDKA has this video: http://kdka.com/video/?id=73410@kdka.dayport.com

I, uh, feature.

WPXI also covers the events: http://www.wpxi.com/news/23924865/detail.html

In other news, don't ride the double yellow and then pepper spray someone when he calls you out on it: http://www.wpxi.com/news/23924713/detail.html

Carrying celebratory balloons on my rack seemed like a good idea until the wind started blowing. Never again.

I'm bummed that the WPXI video very heavily overshadowed how cool of an achievement this is by talking mostly about the attacks... I expected them to do this a bit, but I wish they had reported better about how far we've come in improvements.

The KDKA video is better, for sure...

i like the "Bike Pittsburgh officials say...."

lolly, the video of you riding away with the balloons was awesome.

I was very happy to be present at the ceremony in downtown today! Although I wish there had been more people present....

Personally, I sincerely hope that with this accomplishment by BikePgh and the cycling community; city officials, police departments, and the community-at-large; will take more seriously and act proactively in cyclist's safety and rights-to-the road

I also checked Dan (dwillen) wearing the 'Flock of Cycles' tee! Very cool! I want mine! Also saw many familiar faces, but figured I was there to support, and not to socialize.

(I was standing in the back, gray dress, pixie hair)

Good job everyone! And thank you Scott & the BikePgh staff movers & shakers

(btw.... not to be mean, but Scott... your hair looked abit greasy at the WPXI video! I hope that was due to riding your bike to Downtown on a muggy day, and not due to lack of proper hair products, haha ;p )

I thought it was a great turnout - I certainly didn't expect to see that many people there. Maybe if they'd made it the "Bronze Friendly Keg Ride" or something, but...

I met a few new people, which was cool (I've definitely met more message boarders in the past week than the past year) - although the "socializing" part was definitely easier before the speeches began.

@sLTY: "...Maybe if they'd made it the "Bronze Friendly Keg Ride" or something, but..."

hAHA! True that! I think that after seeing so many riders at the keg ride, I KNOW there are many cyclists in the city.... they are just hiding

Well it was a Bronze Friendly Clif Bar Listen.

i talked to bill from the league of american bicylists and he said that we had one of the larger turnouts that he's seen. he said that in some other town (i can't remember where right now, like charlotte or something) there were 5 people there, and 3 were media.

also said our turnout was bigger than washington dc's

i guess not bad for a noon o'clock event

i guess not bad for a noon o'clock event

Wow! More people than DC and other cities? Erase my comment then! Go Pittsburgh!!!!!

ps: feeling very proud right now to be a yinzer-wanna be!!!!

i'm sure a lot more would have liked to be there, but it's hard to get away from work. i know i never get a lunch break, so i couldn't make it, but at least someone in my family could.

not a fan of the channel 11 coverage with the negativity and the footage of the guy riding helmetless

That's pretty awesome Erok. I am glad three of us from our office had the time to ride down. We had a nice lunch break.